Merry Christmas, y'all

 Merry Christmas to all three of my readers out there! In the spirit of Christmas or whatever nondenominational winter holiday you may prefer to celebrate, here are four figure skating programs so fantastic that I wish I could giftwrap them and stick them under my Christmas tree.

 1. Michelle Kwan, The Red Violin LP at 2000 Worlds

A Lori Nichol program that doesn't make me fall into a drooling stupor. Fantastic music, fantastic skating, fantastic skater--and what an ending! This is what good choreography should be in skating, not just randomly cramming transitions into a program before a jump in order to achieve the "difficult entry" bulletpoint. Ms. Kwan owns this music to the extent that any other attempts to use The Red Violin are bound to end in overwhelmingly unfavorable comparisons (I'm looking at you, Yoshie Onda).

2. Stephane Lambiel, Poeta LP at 2007 Worlds
Embedding disabled, click HERE for a link to the program in full, glorious HD.
Mr. Lambiel's flamenco LP here is arguably the best CoP LP ever so far in men's skating. The choreography is intricate and exquisite, but it is Mr. Lambiel's musicality and performance ability above all which makes this passionate program a truly unforgettable masterpiece. Try harder, Mr. Abbott and Mr. Joubert!

3. Elena Berezhnaya/Anton Sikharulidze, Lady Caliph SP at 2002 Olympics

The fact that Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze did not receive a single 6.0 or even straight first-place ordinals for this perfectly executed and utterly beautiful program--arguably the best pairs short program ever--is an utter travesty. In fact, although I normally disapprove of dodgy judging, this makes me understand why the Russian figure skating federation actually engaged in their backroom dealings to ensure themselves a gold medal in pairs.

4. Jayne Torvill/Christopher Dean, Barnum FD at 1983 Worlds

In my humble opinion, Torvill/Dean's Barnum (as well as Mack and Mabel) are superior to even their vaunted Bolero (and Bolero was fantastic).



I know I should really write something about the Japanese National Championships, but it's better to celebrate Christmas in high spirits then to mourn how spectacularly my favourites are crashing and burning....BRB, drinking spiked eggnog to drown my sorrows.